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The Toronto Police Services Board moved quickly to reject a request from Chief Bill Blair to have his contract extended.

No details were released on Wednesday’s decision, but the chief’s links to controversies such as the ill-treatment of peaceful protesters and bystanders during the G20 Summit in 2010 and “carding” of racial minorities may have proved too much for many on the seven-member board.

The civilian oversight board announced its decision within days of Blair serving notice that he would like to remain on the job two years beyond the end of his contract next April.

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“It was the board’s conclusion that there was need for renewal,” board chair Alok Mukherjee said after the board members met for several hours Wednesday morning, adding, “it was not an easy decision.”

When pressed by reporters whether the animosity between Blair and Mayor and his brother Councillor played a part, Mukherjee said board members weren’t looking for reasons to oust Blair and that no one specific event led to their decision. However, the board did consider issues such as carding, use of force involving people with mental illness and the debate over officer strength numbers, he said.

Sources said Blair lacked the support of four board members: Councillor , Councillor , Councillor and Mukherjee. He had the support of Andrew Pringle, Marie Moliner and Dhun Noria.

The only comment from Blair came through a police spokesman. “I want to thank the board for their consideration,” Mark Pugash said in a statement from Blair. Blair had no further comment.

Blair began an almost four-decade policing career in November 1976, working as a foot patrol officer in Regent Park. He picked up drug enforcement and organized crime assignments before climbing the ranks to units involving homicide, sex crimes, fraud, organized crime, guns and gangs, and intelligence.

He became chief of police on April 26, 2005, under mayor David Miller. Few Toronto police chiefs have lasted as long.

Julian Fantino was chief from 2000 to 2005, succeeding William McCormack, (1990 to 1995) and David Boothby (1995 to 1998).

In 2009, the board voted unanimously to extend Blair’s contract for a second term.

But Blair’s honeymoon period ended in 2010 over the treatment of law-abiding protesters during the G20 summit and after Rob Ford was elected mayor on a penny-pinching fiscal platform. In 2013, his job earned him $337,653 in salary and benefits.

Ford and his brother, Councillor Doug Ford, had scathing criticism of Blair over the investigation into Ford’s activities outside of city hall, but on Wednesday neither would offer an opinion on the police board decision.

Friction has escalated in recent years between Blair and city hall, which appoints three councillors to the board, including the mayor or a designate.

Ford appointed former ally Thompson as his designate, and council picked Nunziata in 2010.

Appointed in January 2013, Del Grande has openly criticized Blair for not doing more to control police spending, though it was the board, in 2011, that signed off on a four-year, 11.5 per cent salary hike that has contributed to the ballooning $1.08 billion cop budget.

Del Grande and Blair clashed in June after the Scarborough councillor publicly assailed the force for expenditures on paid-duty police officers. Blair announced an investigation after Del Grande suggested paid-duty officers were bullying some community event organizers. That probe went nowhere, but there is lingering bitterness between the two men.

Last February, Thompson, who is vice-chair of the board, told the Star the police service needed a “complete shakeup” and the person to oversee that transformation was not Blair.

“There is a need for things to change within the organization, and I’ve been very clear on that,” Thompson told the Star.

Blair’s relationship with Mukherjee, appointed by the province in 2005, had also started to deteriorate, particularly after the G20 and continued criticisms over carding, racial profiling and strip-searches cast the board in a bad light.

Blair retained the support of Pringle, with whom he took a highly publicized fishing trip, and provincial appointees Noria and Moliner.

Sources say Blair might have been banking on the support of Mukherjee, another provincial appointee, particularly in light of public endorsements by Premier Kathleen Wynne and top mayoral candidates Olivia Chow and John Tory.

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